A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a golf ball holder adapted for use during a golf game, by which golf balls can be stored in the holder and conveniently be taken from or inserted into the holder.
B. Description of the Prior Art
There are in the prior art various golf ball holders in which a number of golf balls are stacked in a cylindrical housing, with the golf balls being able to be dispensed one at a time from the lower end of the housing. During actual play of a golf game, this provides the player with a convenient means of obtaining a new golf ball when the previous golf ball is either lost or damaged.
Typical of these devices is one shown in the Houser patent, U.S. Pat. No. 2,768,775, where a plurality of golf balls are held in a vertical cylindrical housing, having two inwardly reaching fingers which form with the lower edge of the housing a circumference moderately smaller than the circumference of the golf ball. By pushing the golf ball against the resilient fingers, these fingers are deflected outwardly, and the golf ball can then be removed from the holder. A somewhat similar arrangement is shown in the Morss patent, U.S. Pat. No. 1,778,225, except that in this device, the retaining member is an annular rubber retainer having an inside diameter moderately smaller than that of the golf ball. The golf ball is moved out of the holder by deflecting the annular retainer to a greater diameter so that the golf ball can be moved from the holder. A somewhat modified arrangement is shown in the Naggar patent, U.S. Pat. No. 3,497,118, where there are several sets of opposed fingers which reach around the golf balls to hold them in the container. The golf ball is removed by pressing it directly against the resilient fingers to push them out of the way and thus remove the ball from the container.
In all three of the patents noted above, there is the common characteristic that the ball, in being removed from the container, is moved in a direction generally directly opposite to the urging of the retaining members. While this arrangement is operable, there is the difficulty that if the retaining member is made quite resistant to deflection so that it can retain the ball quite securely, it becomes difficult to remove the ball from the container. On the other hand, if the retaining member can be deflected with not too much force, the ball can quite easily become accidently dislodged from the container, such as in the course of the normal jostling of a golf bag or the like to which the container might be mounted.
Another approach to this problem is shown in the Joliot patent, U.S. Pat. No. 3,777,933, in which there is a stationary wire mounting member with a lower substantially rigid retaining portion. There is a cylindrical container attached to the wire mounting member in a manner that it is vertically movable. Thus, the cylindrical container itself is moved upwardly to permit a golf ball to be dispensed, and moved downwardly to permit another golf ball to be inserted at the upper end of the container. While this golf ball holder is an operable device, it requires relative movement of the major components to operate the device.
The Motard patent, U.S. Pat. No. 3,281,013, shows a cylindrical container having a wire retaining member at the lower end thereof. This wire retaining member has upper and lower retaining fingers which are movable laterally in a manner that movement in one direction dispenses a lower ball from a lower position, and movement back to the original position permits the next upper golf ball to drop into the dispensing position. Again, this dispenser requires the assembly of components which are relatively movable to make an operable device.
The Anderson patent, U.S. Pat. No. 1,754,495, takes a somewhat different approach by simply providing a removable cap at the bottom end of the containing cylinder. Thus, to remove a golf ball, the cap is removed, the golf ball taken out of the cylinder and the cap put back in place.
Finally, the Miotke patent, U.S. Pat. No. 3,186,593, shows a more sophisticated device for dispensing golf balls onto the ground. This device has a pair of retaining members which can be deflected from their retaining position by movement of a cylindrical actuating member vertically with respect to the cylindrical container. This device serves a substantially different function in that it is designed to place golf balls directly onto the ground.
While the prior art does show a variety of devices which are operable to contain and dispense golf balls, there is a continuing need to provide such a device which lends itself to rather simple construction, desirably of a type which can be made as one integral piece, which has the reliability of securely retaining golf balls and yet provides the convenience of permitting the golf balls to be easily inserted and removed from the device. It is an object of the present invention to provide such an apparatus.